Sight for a firearm

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a sight which is fastened to a structural component of a firearm, preferably the carriage of a pistol. The invention is characterized in that the sight ( 4 ) has parallel to or in alignment with the axis of its base an internal thread and is secured by means of a screw ( 5 ) which can be screwed in from the interior of the structural component of the firearm. It is preferably provided that in the mounted state the leg ( 7 ) of the sight ( 4 ) protrudes into a through-opening ( 2 ) of the structural component of the firearm.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a sight which is mounted at a carriage oranother structural component of a firearm, preferably a pistol.

There are several configurations and types of fastening sights; forexample, the sights may be of metal or synthetic material; they can bemade of one piece with the carriage or a compatible component, forexample; they may be made in one piece with the carriage or thestructural component compatible therewith (in the following, thecarriage is always referred to only as the carriage because of theeasier readability) or are screwed to the carriage or they can also beconnected to the carriage through frictional engagement.

For various reasons, sites of synthetic material have been found usefulwhich have a leg by means of which they are inserted into ablind-endhole or through-hole of the carriage and are secured in thisposition by frictional engagement. These sites are simple and can beeasily replaced without requiring a difficult assembly.

A sight of this type is known from US 217 717. In this reference, it isprovided that the metal sight is at its hole provided with an externalthread and can be screwed from below (inside) through a through-hole.The alignment and especially the maintenance of the alignment arecompletely unsatisfactory.

It is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,802,757 to insert plastic sight withtwo cylindrical legs into blind-endbores and to anchor the legs byscrewing an expanding screw by frictional engagement. The positionresults by coincidence from the equilibrium of forces; the mechanicalstability is poor.

2. Description of the Related Art

It is known from DE 10 2005 009 862, DE 199 10 643, and also U.S. Pat.No. 5,404,667 to provide a purely elastic fastening which of course isalso not providing any adjustment and which is mechanically susceptibleto trouble.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,202,542 discloses the fastening through plasticdeformation of the leg of the sight; which requires a weak and imprecisefastening; and which requires special tools and a press head which isadapted to the leg.

It has now been found that during various applications in extremelyrough operation of these plastic sights, these plastic sights areseparated from their anchoring positions and can be damaged even thoughthey are of synthetic material having excellent mechanical properties.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is the object of the invention to provide a sight, or the fasteningfor a sight, particularly of synthetic material in which the seat aswell as the mechanical strength are further increased.

In accordance with the invention, the objects are met by providing thesight parallel or in alignment with the axis of its base with aninternal thread and to tighten or securing the sight by means of a screwwhich can be screwed in from the interior of the carriage. In thismanner, the seat of the sight in the carriage is significantly improvedwherein, when suitable screws are used, the necessity for using a toolby changing the sight can be kept low; in this manner, knurled headscrews or screws with a hexagonal head, also provided with a slot, areaccessible for any type of tool.

In a further development, the screw protrudes in the mounted statebeyond the outer surface of the carriage so as to fill out the body ofthe sight to the extent possible completely, at least, however, by 60%of the height of the sight. In this manner, the mechanical fastening ofthe sight is significantly improved because any type of mechanical load,particularly impacts and contacts are transmitted directly from thesight to the metal screw. The sight itself can only be subjected locallyto pressure which is a load to which the synthetic material is to ahigher degree resistant.

While specific embodiments of the invention have been shown anddescribed in detail to illustrate the inventive principles, it will beunderstood that the invention may be embodied otherwise withoutdeparting from such principles.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 shows an exploded sketch;

FIG. 2 shows the situation in the assembled state with a partiallytorn-away carriage, and

FIG. 3 shows the detail III on a larger scale.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows a carriage 1 of a firearm in whose front region is locateda through-opening 2 which is oblong in the cross-section thereof. Alongthe axis 3 of this opening, displaced upwardly or downwardly in themanner of an explosion, is an inventive sight 4 and a correspondingfastening screw 5.

FIG. 2 shows the assembled state, wherein, for a better illustration, apart of the carriage 1 is broken away.

FIG. 3 shows detail III on a larger scale. It can be seen that the sight4 is composed of an inner body 15 and an outer sleeve 6, wherein theinner body forms a leg 7 which can be inserted rapidly and tightly intothe through-opening 2. Parallel to the axis 3, preferably in alignmentwith the axis 3 of the through-opening (FIG. 1), the inner body 15 hasat its leg 7 and past the leg 7 an internal thread 8. In the illustratedembodiment, the inner body 15 of the sight 4 also forms a sight point 9which facilitates aiming with the firearm.

The screw 5 has an external thread which matches the internal thread 8.When the screw is screwed into the sight 4, the screw pulls the sight 4with its surface 10 against the outer surface of the carriage 1 andrests in turn with the surface 11 of its head 12 on the sight of thethread against the inner surface of the carriage 1, so that the sight 4securely rests against the firearm.

In the illustrated embodiment, the shaft 13 of the screw 5 has such alength that it extends practically through the entire sight 4. The sight4 has a matching through-opening and is seated essentially like a nut onthe screw 5. For forming a through-opening, the outer sight body 6 alsohas a corresponding recess 14.

From the principal construction illustrated in FIG. 3, it can be seenthat any mechanical load acting on the sight 4 essentially only leads toa compressive force acting on the sight while the bending forcesresulting therefrom are absorbed by the screw 5. The illustrated screwhas a head 12 which, in the illustrated embodiment, is constructed as ahexagonal head, of course, it may also be a knurled head if a manualscrewing or separating are intended; and it is possible, in addition toconstructing the head as a hexagonal head, to provide the head 12additionally with a slot in order to be able to act on the head by meansof a screw driver for slotted screws; instead of a slot it is alsopossible to provide a cross-shaped indentation, or a recess for a sockethead cap, or a combination of several or all of these types of fasteningmembers.

Suitable materials used for the sight are the materials which arealready used in the field of plastic sights, particularly thermoplasticmaterials, such as polyamide (PA), polyoxymethylene (POM), polypropylene(PP), polycarbonate (PC), but also various duroplastic materials. Thescrew may be of steel, particularly stainless steel, so called“Nirosta”, or another metal, particularly an aluminum alloy or alsobrass. In those cases in which the fastening of the sight is of majorsignificance, it is also possible to use high-strength plastic material,possibly fiber-reinforced.

The invention is not limited to the illustrated embodiment; rather theinvention can be modified in various ways. For example, the sightaccording to the invention can be used in any weapon in which theprovision of a through-hole in an analogy to the through-opening ispossible and in which the area in the interior of the carriage or otherweapon part is accessible for mounting or dismounting the screw. Thethrough-opening can have a cross-section which is different from theillustrated oblong cross-section; the cross-section of the oblong holeshould deviate from the circular cross-section because of the adjustmentof the sight about the axis 3, however, other adjusting elements areconceivable.

Of course, the sight 4 can be constructed as a single piece; in thatcase, the optical marking may be a color application or an insertedblade; the illustrated embodiment is advantageous because of itsstability. It is not necessary to provide the shaft 13 of the screw 5nor the through-opening or the blind-end bore of the sight, over theentire length with a thread; because of that property of the screw ofobserving the bending loads and the tensile stresses of the sight, atight fit between the screw and the sight as much as possible over theentire length of the shaft of the screw should be observed; for reasonsof manufacture, an embodiment with a continuous configuration andprovided with a thread is advantageous with respect to costs.

While specific embodiments of the invention have been shown anddescribed in detail to illustrate the inventive principles, it will beunderstood that the invention may be embodied otherwise withoutdeparting from such principles.

1. Sight fastened to a structural component of a firearm, preferably apistol, wherein the sight (4) has parallel to or in alignment with theaxis of its legs an internal thread and is secured by a screw (5) to bescrewed in from the interior of the structural component of the firearm,wherein, in the mounted state, the leg (7) of the sight (4) projectsinto a through-opening (2) of the structural component of the firearm,wherein the screw (5) protrudes beyond the outer surface of thestructural component or the carriage (1) and protrudes in the directionof the axis of the screw (5) at least to 60% of the height of the sightinto the sight.
 2. The sight according to claim 1, wherein it protrudesat least to 90% of the height of the sight into the sight.
 3. The sightaccording to claim 1, wherein the structural component is the carriage(1) of the firearm.
 4. The sight according to claim 1, wherein the sighthas a through-opening for receiving the screw (5).
 5. The sightaccording to claim 1, wherein it consists of an inner body (15) and anouter sleeve (6), wherein the inner body has a leg (7) which can beinserted into the through-opening (2) of the structural component.